Times editor James Harding resigns | Media | The Guardian The Times Times editor James Harding resigns One of youngest editors of the Murdoch-owned newspaper says it was made clear News Corp wanted to make new appointment Editor of the Times James Harding is resigning after five years in charge. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters Wednesday 12 December 2012 10.55 EST First published on Wednesday 12 December 2012 10.55 EST Close This article is 4 years old James Harding has resigned as Times editor after five years, telling journalists on the paper that he was leaving because News Corporation had made it clear it wanted him to go. Harding summoned staff to a meeting at 3.30pm on Wednesday to announce that he had resigned. He will leave the paper at the end of the month and it is understood he is unlikely to stay on in another job at Times publisher News International or parent company News Corp. In his resignation speech in the Times newsroom Harding told shocked colleagues: "It has been made clear to me that News Corporation would like to appoint a new editor of the Times. I have, therefore, agreed to stand down.

I called Rupert [Murdoch] this morning to offer my resignation and he accepted it." Harding added: "This job is a constant privilege and I hope you will, like me, look back with a sense of achievement at the work we have done." He said he was "proud" of the paper's campaigns on tax avoidance, adoption and cycling and its "unflinching foreign coverage". He thanked Murdoch for the "great honour" he did him in appointing him editor of the paper and said it was "a privilege and a point of pride" to work there. Those in the newsroom for the announcement said that Harding was hugged by his emotional deputy editor Keith Blackmore, who will take over as interim editor. In tears, Blackmore said that he was "the best editor the times ever had". John Witherow, the editor of the Sunday Times for the last 15 years, is being tipped as a possible replacement, along with his deputy Martin Ivens. The appointment of a new Times editor must be approved by the independent directors of Times Newspapers , the News International subsidiary that publishes it, as part of a legally binding agreement entered into by Murdoch when he acquired the paper in 1981.

Stunned Times journalists took to Twitter to express their shock. Sports journalist Patrick Kidd said he was "immensely saddened" by Harding's "enforced resignation". He was "universally admired, a real positive force". Reporter Fay Schlesinger tweeted : "James Harding's departure is a massive loss for us. Office quietest I've ever known it." The timing of the resignation is particularly surprising given that Harding is been leading negotiations between editors and with No 10 in the wake of the Leveson inquiry over how to design a reformed system for press regulation that will operate without statute. He is understood to have been in close talks with No 10 about how to create a body to certify the work of the press regulator that would be set up by royal charter – and chaired last Wednesday's meeting at the Delaunay restaurant, at which editors broadly agreed to sign up to the non-statutory provisions of the Leveson report . Rupert Murdoch , chairman and chief executive of News Corp, said: "James has been a distinguished editor for the Times, attracting talented staff to the paper and leading it through difficult times.

I have great respect for him as a colleague and friend, and truly hope we can work together again." Harding said in News International's official statement: "For any journalist, it is an extraordinary privilege and a point of pride to see your work appear beneath the masthead of the Times, the greatest name in newspapers in the world. "I feel hugely honoured to have been given the opportunity to edit the paper and deeply grateful for the experience of working among the finest journalists in the world. This paper has an unrivalled history and, I am extremely confident, a long and impressive future ahead of it." Harding was appointed in late 2007 following the promotion of Robert Thomson to run Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal following Rupert Murdoch's $5bn acquisition of the US financial information and news publisher. He was the second youngest ever editor of the title, aged 38 when he took over. He came under criticism over the paper's decision to unmask the anonymous police blogger NightJack after his email was hacked by former Times journalist Patrick Foster.

Murdoch told the Leveson inquiry that he was "appalled" that a Times lawyer had misled the high court over how the paper came to reveal Richard Horton's identity and said he was "disappointed" that Harding decided to publish the story in the first place. Harding began his career on the Financial Times. He opened the paper's Shanghai bureau and went on to become bureau chief in Washington before joining the Times as business editor. In an email to staff, outgoing News International chief executive Tom Mockridge praised Harding's "energy, wit and inspiration" and the Times' coverage of key events including Olympic Games. He added: "Since his appointment as editor in 2007, James has guided the Times through transformational change. Under his leadership the title has embraced the huge advancements in technology, whilst remaining true to the heart of the story and its world-renowned reputation as the paper of record. "In the face of industry-wide pressures on circulation, the Times has managed to steady its market share and expand its subscription model." • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857.

For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook . Sunday Times editor John Witherow is tipped to take the hot seat but some other names are emerging. By Lisa O'Carroll Published: 14 Dec 2012 Former Times boss to be replaced on Thursday night's current affairs debating show by Lord Bilimoria, founder of Cobra beer. By Lisa O'Carroll Published: 13 Dec 2012 The Times editor has resigned and the Telegraph is attacking the Tories amid continued uncertainty over press regulation Published: 12 Dec 2012 How Harding announced News Corporation's decision to appoint a new editor Published: 12 Dec 2012 Times newspaper editor James Harding to quit - BBC News BBC News Times newspaper editor James Harding to quit 12 December 2012 Read more about sharing.

Close share panel Image caption James Harding was editor of the Times newspaper, part of News International Group, for five years The editor of the Times, James Harding, has announced his resignation. His move comes on the day parent company News International revealed £10.8m in severance pay, understood to be for its former boss Rebekah Brooks. James Harding will leave within a month and is expected to be replaced by Sunday Times editor John Witherow. Mrs Brooks resigned as chief executive of News International because of phone-hacking allegations at the now-closed News of the World newspaper. In an address to staff, Mr Harding implied that the decision was not entirely his: "It has been made clear to me that News Corporation would like to appoint a new editor of the Times. "I have, therefore, agreed to stand down. I called Rupert this morning to offer my resignation and he accepted it," he said. Mr Harding could move to Mr Murdoch's publishing firm, Harper Collins, BBC business editor Robert Peston says. Losses The News International Group, the News Corporation subsidiary which owns both the Times titles as well as the Sun newspaper and formerly published the News of the World, published its latest accounts.

They revealed losses of £153m in the year to July 2012, compared with a profit of £113m a year earlier. I have great respect for [James] as a colleague and friend, and truly hope we can work together again Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation The group said one of the main causes of the loss, £46.6m, was the closure of the News of the World, which folded in July 2011 in the wake of allegations of widespread phone hacking. That figure included a £10.8m "compensation for loss of office" payment, which is understood was paid to Rebekah Brooks, who resigned shortly after the final edition of the NOTW was published. She was a former editor of the News of the World who rose to chief executive of News International. The company said this financial year contained a "high level of uncertainty" in respect of potential damages and legal costs which may be payable as result of the legal action by those alleging their private messages were intercepted by the News of the World in search of stories. It said it had set aside £17.5m "in respect of claimants legal fees and damages".

A number of individuals have received compensation payments, including the parents of murdered schoolgirl Millie Dowler and the singer, Charlotte Church. Split The change at the Times newspaper comes hard on the heels of another move at the top of Mr Murdoch's company. Last week, the chief executive of News International, the News Corporation subsidiary whose assets include the Times newspapers, said he would leave his role before the end of the month. Tom Mockridge had taken over from Mrs Brooks in July 2011. Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp, said Mr Mockridge's decision was "absolutely and entirely his own". The announcement comes as News Corp plans to split into two businesses, separating its newspaper and book publishing interests from its now dominant and much more profitable TV and film enterprises. Rupert Murdoch said: "James has been a distinguished editor for the Times, attracting talented staff to the paper and leading it through difficult times. "I have great respect for him as a colleague and friend, and truly hope we can work together again." Mr Harding, who is 43, was one of the youngest journalists to take charge of the paper.

Former Times editor James Harding appointed £340,000-a-year head of BBC News and Current Affairs | Daily Mail Online comments James Harding, former editor of the Times newspaper, is the BBC's new head of news on a salary of £340,000 The BBC has announced that the new head of news and current affairs will be the former editor of The Times Newspaper, James Harding. Mr Harding will be on a salary of £340,000 as he takes over the post which was vacated by Helen Boaden who stepped aside in the wake of the Savile investigations and is now head of BBC Radio. Mr Harding, 43, who resigned as editor of the paper in December after five years, will head the corporation’s huge news division, despite his lack of TV and radio experience. His appointment is a radical move by the corporation which has been criticised for being dominated by executives who have little experience of the world outside the BBC. This will make him one of the best paid and most powerful executives at the BBC and he is the latest in a string of senior appointments by new director general Tony Hall, which has also included former Labour culture secretary James Purnell.

Cambridge graduate Mr Harding resigned from The Times after five years in December and indicated to colleagues on the paper that its owners News Corporation had wanted him to go. Mr Harding will head the BBC's news division, which employs more than 8,000 staff, and sit on the BBC's executive and management boards. He said: 'The BBC's newsroom strives to be the best in the world, trusted for its accuracy, respected for its fairness and admired for the courage of its reporting. I am honoured to be a part of it.' Scroll down for video Harding replaces Helen Boaden (left) and is one of new director general Tony Hall's first appointments VIDEO See James Harding apologising to the Leveson Inquiry BBC Director-General Tony Hall said: 'I am delighted that James will be joining as the new Director of BBC News and Current Affairs. High quality journalism sits right at the heart of the BBC making this is an absolutely critical role. 'James has a very impressive track record as a journalist, editor and manager. I believe he will give BBC News a renewed sense of purpose as it moves away from what has been an undeniably difficult chapter.

RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share 'As an organisation, the BBC will also benefit from his external perspective and experience which he will share as a member of the BBC’s Executive team.' Before working at The Times, Harding held a number of international posts at the Financial Times. Boaden's time in charge was scrutinised by the Pollard review, which said her division went into 'virtual meltdown' during the scandal. As director of news, Miss Boaden was responsible for more than 8,000 staff and was in charge of all of the broadcaster’s news and current affairs output, including Question Time, Panorama, the Today Programme and Newsnight. Mr Harding will head the news division, which employs more than 8,000 staff, and sit on the BBC's executive and management boards JAMES HARDING, BBC NEWS CHIEF Harding - who can speak English, French, German, Mandarin and Japanese - worked as a speechwriter in Japan before taking up a job at the Financial Times in 1994. He opened the newspaper's Shanghai bureau before going on to become the Washington bureau chief, a job he held for three years.

In 2006 he started working at the Times as business editor before becoming overall editor - and at 38 the youngest person ever to do so - of the paper in 2007. He was born in London and was educated at St. Paul's School before going on to study history at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is the author of Alpha Dogs, How Political Spin Became a Global Business and is married to Kate with whome he has a son, Samuel. It is known that she told Mr Entwistle – then running BBC TV – at an awards lunch last year that Newsnight was planning to run a report about claims that Savile abused young girls, which could affect Mr Entwistle’s plans for Christmas shows paying tribute to the presenter. Sources at Newsnight also suggested that she warned the programme’s then editor, Peter Rippon – who has also since stepped aside – that he needed to be sure of his facts before screening any claims that Savile was a criminal. Miss Boaden resumed her role as director of BBC News in December after further blunders - caused by a change in the chain of command in news while an inquiry was ongoing - led to Lord McAlpine being wrongly identified as being involved in a sexual abuse scandal.

After Boaden stepped aside, Fran Unsworth, 54, was temporarily made head of news and will hold the position until Harding starts in August. In Ferbruary, former Labour cabinet minister James Purnell was made chief strategist at the BBC on a salary of £295,000 a year. His appointment re-ignited concerns over the corporation's links with the Left with MPs claiming it was 'unprecedented' to have someone with such a politically active past become a senior BBC executive. Matthew Sinclair, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'The amount of licence fee-payers' money paid to senior BBC bosses has long been excessive and it is a shame that this opportunity has not been taken reduce spending in this area.

'As families up and down the country have to tighten their belts, the Corporation needs to do the same and cutting down the executive pay bill is an obvious area for savings.' James Harding: ex-Times editor could become the story at the BBC | Media | The Guardian BBC James Harding: ex-Times editor could become the story at the BBC Although respected by former colleagues, there will be nowhere to hide as he joins the corporation after leading one of its critics James Harding: joins the BBC after being forced out by Rupert Murdoch at the Times. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters Tuesday 16 April 2013 09.28 EDT First published on Tuesday 16 April 2013 09.28 EDT Close This article is 3 years old James Harding was the youngest ever editor of The Times, appointed in 2007 at the age of 38. But he was forced to quit unceremoniously in December after Rupert Murdoch made it clear he wanted him to go.

Now less than six months later he has been catapulted into the upper echeolons of the BBC, as the corporation's director of news and current affairs , arguably the most important editorial job in Britain but potentially the most risky of his career. Not only will he be responsible for daily bulletins on the BBC's main TV channels and radio stations, he will also be in charge of flagship programmes including Today, Newsnight, Question Time and Panorama and the associated personalities such as Jeremy Paxman, John Humphrys and John Sweeney, who this week created a storm of protest after using a trip with London School of Economics students to gain access to North Korea for a documentary . For Harding, whose career was shaped on two newspapers – the Financial Times and the Times – there will be no hiding place with every move scrutinised and every decision carrying the potential to blow up into a Jimmy Savile-style scandal that could threaten his £340,000-a-year job. He also comes to the job, unusually for a senior BBC editorial appointment, with no broadcasting experience.

However, such a move is not unprecedented – John Birt brought Ian Hargreaves to the BBC from the FT in 1987 as managing editor and then director of news and current affairs. "If he gets sucked into the nuts and bolts and the everyday rows between factions, he won't get out again. He will be finished. He's a smart guy but he will need to install two or three people around him that he can totally trust," said one BBC insider. Harding, who does not join the BBC until August, will have plenty of time to observe and mug up on his new employer. Top of his BBC reading list should be former head of Sky News Nick Pollard's strongly worded report on the corporation's handling of the Jimmy Savile scandal. Pollard was particularly scathing about BBC News, saying Harding's predecessor Helen Boaden should have taken greater responsibility as her division went into "virtual meltdown" during the Savile crisis in October and November, with very public hostilities between executives and journalists and flagship programmes Panorama and Newsnight.

He will also be able to see how BBC News's 3,000-odd journalists bed in to their capacious new home, which includes a double-atrium newsroom and 11 floors, in the £1bn New Broadcasting House refurbishment in central London. Educated in St Paul's in Hammersmith, one of the top private schools in London, and Cambridge, where he got a first-class history degree, Harding started his journalistic career at the Financial Times in 1994. He went on to work in China and then become the paper's media editor. Harding learnt Mandarin to add to his Japanese (and French and German) and in 2002 he was appointed the FT's Washington bureau chief before being lured back to London to become Times business editor under Thomson. Working for Murdoch will have given Harding some of the "upward management" skills he will need at the BBC. He was a popular editor with many journalists at the Times, with notable scoops on his watch including last year's tax avoidance campaign, which caught out many high profile figures including Jimmy Carr.

Another award-winning campaign under Harding's editorship was Andrew Norfolk's investigation into the grooming and sexual exploitation of girls in Rotherham which prompted two government inquiries, a parliamentary inquiry and a new national action plan on child sexual exploitation. Norfolk won the 2012 Paul Foot award for investigative and campaigning journalism for his work . Former colleagues on the paper say he was "a good leader, a very decent man", whose ethics are irreproachable. "He will fit in very well at the BBC," one said. Harding's editorials on the phone-hacking scandal and his support of his media reporting team on the matter may have curtailed his career within News Corporation, but they are cited as an example of how resolutely independent he may be at the BBC when challenged by the corporation's many critics. "He was furious with what had happened at the News of the World, he said he was determined that the Times's reputation was not going be tarnished by those shits," said one Times insider. In one leader described as "brutal" by a News International insider, Harding wrote how his bosses "succumbed to most dangerous delusion of the powerful, namely that it could play by its own set of rules".

Self-flagellation of this type is a trait of the BBC, which freely allows its news division to be critical of the corporation, one recent example being last autumn's Panorama programme on rival Newsnight's mishandling of the Savile affair. While there were tears in the newsroom when Harding was removed at the Times, not everyone rued the day of his departure. Some felt that he lacked the visceral judgment that distinguishes great editors from good ones and that he did not have the popular touch. "He was a very popular editor, but that's not the same as saying he was one of the best editors," said one source, who noted that his predecessor, Australian-born Robert Thomson, didn't care about the establishment to the same extent as Harding. "He wasn't really suited to the grubby world of journalism where he might be upsetting his friends, or getting complaints from people he would have liked to be his friends." Another said: "He was responsible for some great campaigns, but he didn't make enough of them.

If it was the Mail or the Telegraph, they would have gone for beyond broke on the offshore tax campaign like the Telegraph campaign on MPs' expenses." Harding's failure to buy the CD containing details of MPs' expenses, which he had been offered before the Telegraph snapped it up, was one standout mistake on his watch. He baulked at the deal because the CD was stolen while the Telegraph had no such hesitation, knowing the chances of it being taken before a judge were slim to none. The biggest crisis Harding had to deal with, however, came after former reporter Patrick Foster revealed the identity of a policeman behind the anonymous NightJack blog in 2009 through email hacking. Harding was forced to apologise to a high court judge, to his readers and News International agreed to pay the policeman, Richard Horton, £42,500 in damages . Some of the Times's anti-BBC leader columns may also come back to haunt Harding in his new job.

In 2010, when hostilities between Murdoch and the BBC were at their height over the News Corporation's bid to take over BSkyB, Harding ran an editorial accusing the corporation's then director general Mark Thompson of "seeking to gain commercial advantages in league with News Corp's rivals". Harding, who is Jewish, will also have to leave behind the pro-Israeli line of the Times. In a debate at the Jewish Community Centre For London in 2011, Harding said "I am pro-Israel" and that in reporting on the Middle East, "I haven't found it too hard" because "the Times has been pro-Israel for a long time". However, he also stressed the need for balanced news reporting and said he was also in favour of a Palestinian state. While Murdoch has never said why he wanted to replace Harding, many have speculated that the Times's falling circulation and combined with the editor's critical stance over the phone-hacking scandal were to blame. But those in the know say it was simpler than that. "There was a sense that the paper needed more of an edge, needed to be a more newsy paper," said one insider.

The paper had long had a "cerebral" tone under editors such as William Rees Mogg and Peter Stothard. Thomson, Harding's immediate predecessor – like him, imported from the Financial Times – had been tasked with shaking it up and when he went to New York in late 2007 to run the newly acquired Wall Street Journal he handed the mantle to Harding. "James tried to make the paper more newsy and although he had all the right reflexes, hard news that upsets people wasn't in his culture like it would be if he had come from the Telegraph or the Daily Mail," said one insider. Another former colleague added: "[Robert] Thomson wasn't anti-establishment, he just couldn't care less what people thought. Harding cared deeply. He will fit in well at the BBC." • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook UK's Times newspaper editor James Harding to resign UK's Times newspaper editor James Harding to resign Tweet Share London, Dec 13 (ANI): James Harding, the editor of the British daily national newspaper, the Times, has announced his resignation. His move comes on the day parent firm News International revealed 10.8 million pounds in severance pay, understood to be for its former boss Rebekah Brooks, who had resigned as chief executive of the company because of phone-hacking allegations. James Harding will leave within a month and is expected to be replaced by Sunday Times editor John Witherow, the BBC reports. In an address to staff, Harding implied that the decision was not entirely his. "It has been made clear to me that News Corporation would like to appoint a new editor of the Times," the report quoted him, as saying. "I have, therefore, agreed to stand down. I called Rupert this morning to offer my resignation and he accepted it," he added.

(ANI) Reblog Editor of Britain's Times Newspaper Steps Down Editor of Britain's Times Newspaper Steps Down Wednesday, 12 Dec 2012 03:56 PM Close A A James Harding stepped down as editor of Rupert Murdoch's Times daily on Wednesday in the latest upheaval at the mogul's troubled British newspaper business. No formal reason was given but Harding indicated the decision had been forced on him in his resignation speech to staff. "It has been made clear to me that News Corporation would like to appoint a new editor of The Times," said Harding, who was one of the youngest journalists to get the job when he took over in 2007. "I have therefore agreed to stand down. I called Rupert this morning to offer my resignation and he accepted it," he said in quotes reported by his own newspaper. Harding, 43, will leave at the end of the month, according to a statement from News International, the British newspaper arm of Murdoch's News Corp. The resignation comes at a tumultuous time for News International after Tom Mockridge stepped down as chief executive last week and after the phone-hacking scandal at the now defunct the News of the World, part of Murdoch's British newspaper stable.

Murdoch, who is splitting his empire into two companies, separating his newspaper and publishing businesses from the more profitable film and television interests, installed Mike Darcey, a former economist known for signing commercial deals and boosting subscription revenues, as Mockridge's replacement. CRITICIZED Harding himself was criticized by a public inquiry which was set up by Prime Minister David Cameron to examine press ethics following the public furor over phone-hacking. He was forced to apologize to the inquiry, headed by senior judge Brian Leveson, in February after admitting that one of the paper's reporters had hacked the email of an anonymous police blogger in 2009 to expose his identity. People familiar with the situation at News International have speculated that John Witherow, the editor of the Times's sister paper, the Sunday Times, might replace Harding. In its statement, News International merely said the national independent directors of The Times would be consulted on a replacement. "James has been a distinguished editor for The Times, attracting talented staff to the paper and leading it through difficult times," Murdoch said.

"I have great respect for him as a colleague and friend, and truly hope we can work together again." Britain's national press, struggling with declining readership in recent years, has also been reeling from Leveson's damning inquiry which called for a new legislation-backed watchdog to police the sometimes "outrageous" behavior of newspapers. Harding was playing a key role in the industry's attempts to come up with an effective system of self-regulation and thereby avoid any press law which editors argue would amount to state control. Also on Wednesday, accounts published by News International revealed that its former chief executive Rebekah Brooks, who quit in July following the phone-hacking scandal, had been given a 10.85 million pound ($17.49 million) pay-off. The amount was recorded without names as being "in respect of compensation for loss of office" but a source with knowledge of the matter confirmed it related to Murdoch's close ally Brooks. Murdoch said Brooks had been his main priority at the height of public anger after revelations News of the World staff had hacked the voicemails of the mobile phone belonging to a schoolgirl who was later found dead.

Brooks, a one-time editor of the News of the World, is due to go on trial next year charged with offences relating to phone-hacking and illegal payments to public officials. © 2017 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved. Click Here to comment on this article Close Times editor James Harding apologises to High Court judge after failing to reveal reporter's email hacking | Daily Mail Online comments Apology: Times editor James Harding failed to disclose that a reporter had illegally hacked the emails of an anonymous police blogger The editor of The Times has apologised personally to a High Court judge after he failed to disclose that a reporter had illegally hacked the emails of an anonymous police blogger who had served an injunction on the newspaper to keep his identity secret. The Times, which was seeking in court to overturn the injunction and name the officer, had claimed reporter Patrick Foster discovered his identity through legitimate journalistic investigation. In fact he had illegally hacked into the officer’s email, and the Leveson Inquiry was told that this was known at the time by the paper’s legal manager and at least one senior Times news executive, but concealed from the court and presiding judge Mr Justice Eady.

Times editor James Harding, recalled to the Leveson Inquiry yesterday, said he also become aware of Mr Foster’s actions in the days before Mr Justice Eady came to his decision in the case, but also failed to disclose it. The judge overturned the injunction in June 2009 and, as a result, the paper was able to name serving Lancashire detective Richard Horton as the author of the NightJack blog. Mr Harding said that if he had known earlier that Mr Foster had hacked Mr Horton’s email, he would have dropped the story. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share He admitted his paper’s actions were ‘terrible’ and that he has since apologised to Mr Horton and the judge for the ‘sorely’ regretted intrusion. He said ‘information had not been disclosed to the judge’ to which ‘I have to own my responsibility and my failure here. I can see now that we paid insufficient attention to this matter at the time’.

Unveiled: The award-winning NightJack blogger was exposed by The Times as Lancashire detective Richard Horton in 2009 Blogger: Richard Horton received an apology from the Times At the time the newspaper fought the injunction, Mr Foster’s line manager, the then home news editor Martin Barrow, and the paper’s legal manager, Alastair Brett, knew he had been involved in hacking, Mr Harding told the inquiry. An internal Times email disclosed to the inquiry suggested Mr Foster knew that what he had done was dubious. He referred to it as ‘the dirty deed’. Mr Harding said he was unaware the legal challenge was even taking place and that he was only informed of the hacking later that same day when the case had been heard, but before a ruling had been delivered. Asked why he had not raised the issue with the judge prior to his verdict, he said his focus was on other news stories and that he was not aware of ‘what the legal correspondence was’. Robert Jay QC, counsel for the inquiry, said the judge was told the policeman’s identity had been uncovered through ‘a process of elimination and intelligent deduction’.

Mr Brett was said by Mr Harding to have responded to concerns the blogger’s email account may have been hacked by the Times reporter, by claiming it was a ‘baseless allegation’. He also failed to inform the paper’s barrister of the illegal email interceptions. The inquiry heard that Mr Brett did not seek to tell the court of Mr Foster’s actions, as the reporter had spoken to him on a ‘confidential’ basis, and revealing the hacking could ‘incriminate’ him. Mr Harding said Mr Foster was disciplined and later dismissed for an unrelated incident. The police are investigating The Times over the alleged hacking. Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre is to be recalled to the Leveson Inquiry later this week to address questions raised on behalf of actor Hugh Grant. We let down the victims in News Of The World scandal, says Scotland Yard By REBECCA CAMBER Former deputy PM John Prescott was one of the victims to bring judicial review proceedings to challenge the police for not alerting them that they had been targeted by the NotW Scotland Yard admitted for the first time yesterday that officers had failed in their duty by not warning phone hacking victims their privacy may have been under threat.

The Metropolitan Police was forced to accept that it had ‘breached a legal obligation’ to do so as long ago as 2006. The force reached a settlement at the High Court with a number of victims, including former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott, who brought judicial review proceedings to challenge the police for not alerting them that they had been targeted by the News of the World. They also accused the force of failing to investigate the allegations properly. Other claimants were Labour MP Chris Bryant, former Met deputy assistant commissioner Brian Paddick, Jude Law’s personal assistant Ben Jackson and an anonymous claimant. The group claim, brought in 2010, was initially defended by police. But the force yesterday conceded that it had been wrong not to warn victims identified in the first inquiry into the scandal in 2006. It came a day after the Leveson inquiry into Press standards heard that phone hacking at the News of the World claimed nearly 830 ‘likely victims’. The Met admitted breaching its duties under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. However, no damages are to be paid to those affected.

Outside the High Court, Lord Prescott said: ‘I just wanted them to admit they weren’t doing their job properly. ‘In this country we expect police to get on with their job impartially, and they didn’t in this case. It’s taken me 19 months to finally get justice. Time and time again I was told by the Metropolitan Police that I had not been targeted by the News of the World. But I refused to accept this was the case.’ Mr Bryant said: ‘It is still a mystery to me why the police failed properly to investigate the News of the World in 2006.’ The Met admitted there were flaws in the handling of the original inquiry and said all the claimants were receiving personal apologies. The number of officers working on investigations into phone hacking, computer hacking and blagging, and police corruption will soon rise to 171.

James Harding named as director of BBC News - BBC News BBC News James Harding named as director of BBC News 16 April 2013 Close share panel Image caption James Harding said he was "honoured" to be part of BBC News The former editor of the Times, James Harding is the BBC's new director of news and current affairs, director general Tony Hall has confirmed. Mr Harding resigned from the paper in December, saying it had been made clear that publishers News International wanted a new editor. He became editor of The Times in 2007 at the age of 38. "James has a very impressive track record as a journalist, editor and leader," Lord Hall said in a statement. The ex-Times journalist is also the paper's former business editor and was also Washington bureau chief of the Financial Times. Image caption Tony Hall said he was "delighted" at the appointment Mr Harding said he was "honoured" to be a part of the BBC's newsroom that is "trusted for its accuracy, respected for its fairness and admired for the courage of its reporting". He will receive a salary of £340,000.

Lord Hall said he was "delighted" to make the announcement and that Mr Harding would take up his post on 12 August, having spent time with news teams over the next six weeks to familiarise himself with them. "High quality journalism is at the heart of our organisation," Lord Hall said. "I believe James will give News a renewed sense of purpose as it moves on from what has been an undeniably difficult chapter." The BBC boss added that Mr Harding would bring "the benefit of his external perspective and experience to the senior executive team and wider organisation". Mr Harding began his career at The Financial Times in 1994 where he opened a bureau in Shanghai. He was the FT's media editor for three years and went on to become Washington bureau chief in 2002. Mr Harding joined The Times in 2006 as Business Editor before being appointed editor of the paper in 2007. Analysis By Torin DouglasMedia correspondent James Harding has no direct experience of broadcasting but was widely regarded as a successful editor of The Times. It was named newspaper of the year in the Press Awards this year and his staff were sorry to see him go.

He resigned abruptly in December, telling staff that News International wanted to appoint a new editor, so he'd offered his resignation to Rupert Murdoch. There was speculation that the company wanted to merge The Times and the Sunday Times, but this was blocked by The Times's independent directors. Harding won plaudits for The Times' robust coverage of the phone hacking scandal but had to apologise to the Leveson inquiry over the alleged hacking of emails by one of his own journalists. He led The Times' move into digital publishing, charging readers to access its online site, and also had to implement cuts at the paper. He also turned down the chance to break the MPs' expenses scandal, telling the Leveson inquiry he didn't want to pay for stolen goods. He said 'hindsight is a wonderful thing' and he now believed there would have been a 'public interest' defence. That's all valuable experience for his new role at the BBC. The job is regarded as particularly important following criticisms of the BBC's handling of two Newsnight crises - one over the failure to broadcast an investigation into allegations against Jimmy Savile and a subsequent programme that led Lord McAlpine to be wrongly implicated in claims of child abuse.

During the Leveson inquiry examining the culture, practice and ethics of the press, he publicly apologised for a Times reporter who hacked into Lancashire police detective Richard Horton's email account to write a story. When Mr Harding resigned in 2012, the chairman and chief executive of News Corp Rupert Murdoch called him "a distinguished editor" who led the paper through "difficult times". His appointment at the BBC comes after the former head of news, Helen Boaden, moved to a new role as director of BBC Radio. Ms Boaden had to step aside for a period from November last year, along with her deputy Steve Mitchell, in the wake of the Savile investigations. She returned to her job just before Christmas, after the Pollard Review criticised BBC management but found no evidence of a cover-up over the shelving of an investigation into Savile by the BBC's Newsnight programme. At the same time Mr Mitchell's resignation was accepted by the BBC. Speaking in February, Lord Hall said: "I am building a senior team that will define the BBC and public service broadcasting for the next decade." He was appointed director general following the resignation of George Entwistle, after just 54 days in the job.

Mr Entwistle quit in the wake of a Newsnight investigation that had led to the former Conservative Party treasurer, Lord McAlpine, being wrongly accused of child abuse. He said that as editor-in chief he had to take "ultimate responsibility" for the programme. James Harding - ITV News James Harding James Harding pictured in 2011. Credit: PA Former Times editor James Harding has been appointed head of BBC News, replacing Helen Boaden who was in charge when the Jimmy Savile scandal erupted. The journalist, who edited the paper for five years before leaving last year, starts in the £340,000-a-year role in August. "James has a very impressive track record as a journalist, editor and leader," BBC director-general Tony Hall said. "High quality journalism is at the heart of our organisation. I believe James will give News a renewed sense of purpose as it moves on from what has been an undeniably difficult chapter." When Harding stepped down from his position at The Times in December 2012, he indicated the decision had been forced on him by publishers News International in his resignation speech.

Harding was playing role in newspaper regulation changes Today James Harding announced his resignation from The Times after he told staff it was "made clear" that News Corporation wanted to appoint a new editor. Just last week, he met with other national newspaper editors to discuss a new regulation system for the industry: This is the full text of James Harding's address to Times staff: . Harding: 'It has been a privilege to work at The Times' James Harding, who is 43, was one of the youngest journalists ever to take charge of The Times and has been at its helm for five years. Educated at Cambridge, Mr Harding began his journalistic career at the Financial Times. He opened their Shanghai Bureau and served as Bureau Chief in Washington before joining The Times as Business Editor. It has been announced that James Harding is to leave The Times. Credit: Press Association Speaking following his resignation, Mr Harding said: "For any journalist, it is an extraordinary privilege and a point of pride to see your work appear beneath the masthead of The Times, the greatest name in newspapers in the world. "I feel hugely honoured to have been given the opportunity to edit the paper and deeply grateful for the experience of working among the finest journalists in the world.

This paper has an unrivalled history and, I am extremely confident, a long and impressive future ahead of it.” GQ MOTY: James Harding Newspaper Editor | British GQ GQ.CO.UK Wednesday 2 September 2009 James Harding may have passed on the MPs' expenses scandal - handing rival editor Will Lewis a gift of a story for the Daily Telegraph - but in every other respect he has had a truly great year. Since becoming editor of the Times nearly two years ago, the 39-year-old has revitalised the title, injecting a broad intellectualism that can be seen in every section. Before his editorship, Harding was the paper's highly regarded business editor, and before that Washington bureau chief of the Financial Times. Almost pathologically wary of sticking his head above the parapet, he is modest, charming and fluent in Japanese, Chinese, French and German. Advertisement

Question: James Harding is the editor of which daily newspaper?
Answer: The Times